mai's blog

hello cyber world

2009-04-07T14:47:00.002+01:00

Yes, I am still trying to keep in touch with the cyber world. But every time I promise to blog again in a manner that is even remotely close to being regular, Zido comes along for a smelly nappy change or a sweet cuddle, or a piece of freelance translation or editing lands on my lap with a close deadline, or I feel guilty and gather up an enuthusiasm for finishing a part in my thesis, or I spend hours in the kitchen cooking up an authentic Egyptian dish that me or Ali suddenly craved.. What can I do? C'est la vie indeed.

Anyway, Zido is past one year old now and is as naughty as all boys are, freelance work continues to be good for the mind and the pocket, my PhD remains my unborn baby that I love sometimes and am fed up with some other times, and the kitchen.. well, we gotta eat. That's my personal update, to be brief.

But, I just discovered that I never got round to posting a picture of Ziad on my blog. I had this dream of setting up his own blog since he was born and posting pictures and stuff on it.. Well, imagine what future his blog has now :)

So, here is a loooong overdue picture of my small family.. me, my hubby and my son.

Mai

mummy is blogging again..!

2008-10-20T21:49:00.002+01:00

I can't believe I am.. I actually thought I've reached the end of my blogging tunnel. But as I was sitting here feeling so mmm.. what's the word.. so wanting to blog, I found myself going to my bookmarks, clicking on my blog and inserting a first birthday ticker for Zido.

So, it's been ages.. and now I am a mum. One thing about being a mum is that.. IT KEEPS YOU BUSY.. So I am not going to waste a lot of time trying to describe to you what happened since i last blogged: the last tiring weeks of pregnancy, the delivery and the horrible pain of pushing that I wish men can experience, and the mad, hectic life I've been living since Zido came. I can't believe how cute he is, and I can't believe how much demanding it is to take care of a baby.

Anyway, I just thought to bring my blog back to life again.. will write again soon.

Mai

and it's almost half way through..

2007-12-21T17:31:00.000Z

WOW.. 50 days have gone and 50 days still to come. Well, theoretically that is.. In the midst of all the confusion about the British way of calculating the due date, I have a feeling that I will deliver before this date, not to mention that my mum is convinced I will. Actually I hope so, because it really feels that I have been pregnant for ages, and as I am getting heavier and heavier everything becomes less comfortable. Even baby moves now are not very comfortable, and boy does the baby move.. even Ali sometimes feels it and says, "aouch, that one was strong". At this of course I say back, "well, baby seems to be naughty like it's dad" :)

Meanwhile, I am thinking about all things baby.. baby shower, baby shopping, baby blog, and all the whens, whats, and hows related to all this. It's exciting yes, but sometimes it feels daunting. At the end of the day all I can wish for is that we make all the right decisions.

As the pregnancy is nearing its end, I keep thinking about the pros and cons. Of course, you can imagine which list is the longer. But as the order changes in these lists from time to time, still the number 1 on the cons is the unchangeable, unbeaten mood swings. God, I cried in the last 7 months or so like I have never cried before in my life. I'm glad this will be over soon.

Well, as the baby is active now and is doing strange things inside me , so I think I will go lie down and talk it through with him :)

It only remains to wish everyone a happy Xmas and a great new year.. I know that next year for me and Ali will be very special.. it will be the year when we move from being a "couple" to being a "family" :)

mum-to-be
Mai

and the countdown begins..

2007-11-01T23:17:00.000Z

ONLY 100 days ONLY till due date ONLY..

phew.. :)

mum-to-be
Mai

..with a grain of salt

2007-10-24T20:27:00.000+01:00

More than ever, I now live my life with a grain of salt.. literally and metaphorically. Literally, because I devour anything salty that comes my way.. from salt and vinegar Pringles to pieces of anchovies on a warm toast. And metaphorically, because.. well, what is a better time to be skeptical about everything?

p.s.
early this morning, it "might" be Ali's first time to feel the baby "kicking" which he described as a very "nice" feeling. (how about that for skepticism? :) )

mum-to-be
Mai

my new motto from now on will be..

2007-10-18T00:58:00.000+01:00

The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Omar Al-khayyam

mum-to-be
Mai

finally, a break

2007-10-15T17:27:00.000+01:00

I know it has been ages since I last blogged.. but you cannot believe the amount of stress I have been experiencing in the past few months.. Luckily, I just returned from a break. Me and Ali went to Cotswold for a 3 day weekend break with a group of 10 friends as we all rented 2 cottages on one of the beautiful lakes there. It was short but badly needed.

And I know you are dying for updates.. I think this picture tells you where I am pregnancy-wise (or rather how big I am now).. as for everything-else-wise, well.. that will have to wait, and some of it I would prefer to forget altogether.

mum-to-be
Mai

back pain..

2007-09-07T01:28:00.000+01:00

This is the keyword for my life right now.. The last 10 days? I don't want to talk about it, it's enough to say it was hell..
Now I am trying to find a way to sit comfortably on my desk to study while I try hard not to think about my aching back screaming please lie down in bed, as I said good bye to the so-called "good night sleep" a while ago, and at the same time keep my hopes up that this is a transitional phase and that I will regain my lost energy in about 3 weeks as everyone who has been pregnant before has told me in the fit of sisterly advice that overwhelms friends once they know you are expecting although I am already convinced that each single pregnancy is unique..... phew. Easy, huh?!

But you know what's the real annoying thing? I DON'T FEEL BABY MOVEMENT YET.. Am I such a bad mother already that I can't feel my own baby inside me?!#@$!&?

mum-to-be
Mai

my baby calendar

2007-08-30T15:36:00.000+01:00

As you can see on the right, I've inserted a baby calendar.. :) I don't know if it's actually going to count down successfully, but we'll see..

Can you believe it's ONLY 163 days.. wow, it sounds sooooooooooooooooo long.

mum-to-be
Mai

what is reality?

2007-08-21T16:30:00.000+01:00

The great logician Kurt Godel (never heard of him before) once said:

"Reality consists of an infinity of layers of "the now" which come into existence successively"

:) I'm back..

mum-to-be
Mai

birthdays, births, and days..

2007-08-15T14:52:00.000+01:00

Yes it has been looooooooooong days since I last blogged, sorry about that, but you have no idea what I've been through.. it has been all about celebrating birthdays, i.e. mine and Ali's, celebrating the birth of the fruit of our love inside me, i.e. a baby, and just spending days and days feeling excited, tired, happy, worried, grateful, panicked towards it all..

Here are the highlights:

(1) one week after we got back from our anniversary holiday I became tired and suspicious :(
(2) one week after that i was more tired and more suspicious :(
(3) one week after that my suspicions were put to rest, it's a baby :)
(4) a few weeks after that I had my first ultrasound scan, now I'm sure it's a baby :)
(5) a few days after that we announced the news to everyone, now everyone knows it's a baby :)
(6) a couple of weeks after that I heard the baby's heartbeats for the first time :)

Now, physically and emotionally, I am a different person. You can't begin to imagine what it's like unless you are a woman who went through the same experience, and even then, every woman has a unique angle to it.

For me, it actually feels strange and weird whenever I look at this picture on my desk and I wonder: "is this really inside me?"

p.s.
this is not my actual scan or my actual baby, but it is the closest I could find on the internet.. and to be honest, they all look the same at this stage, don't they? :)

mum-to-be
Mai

what do i want?

2007-06-27T13:38:00.000+01:00

Well..

I want to able to listen to recordings of piano sonatas and know who's playing... I want to be fully engaged in the World of Ideas, I want to understand complex economics, and what people see in Bob Dylan... I want to use words like 'eponymous' and 'solipsistic' and 'utilitarian' with confidence... and I want to be able to speak many languages fluently, and maybe even a dead language or two, and to carry a small leather-bound notebook in which I jot incisive thoughts and observations, and the occasional line of verse. Most of all I want to read books; books as thick as a brick, leather-bound books with incredibly thin paper and those purple ribbons to mark where you left off; cheap, dusty, second-hand books of collected verse, incredibly expensive, imported books of incomprehensible essays from foreign universities.

No, really.. what I want is:

At some point, I'd like to have an original idea.

"Starter for Ten", David Nicholls, p.12

p.s.
(1) I started reading this on our holiday, it's hilarious.
(2) I came very close to reading "incomprehensible essay" at times, and I do 'see' that there is something about Bob Dylan, I just can't figure out what it is yet.

Mai

iRonic..

2007-06-20T14:52:00.000+01:00

iGoogle

Word of the day:

indefatigable:

(adjective) Incapable or seemingly incapable of being fatigued; tireless.

It is ironic given the fact that since we came back from our holiday I have been so fatigued and tired I had to stay in bed for 10 days without going out at all until my head got so bored that it would explode any minute now.. phew.

Well.. you can probably tell I'm irritated too. Hopefully soon I will be able to tell you some good news.

Mai

anniversary holiday

2007-06-20T14:51:00.000+01:00

This is the link to the photos we took in Lanzarote..

Mai

11/05/2007

2007-05-11T17:46:00.000+01:00

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE, MY HUSBAND, MY ALI

Mai
11/05/07

these days in history..

2007-05-01T23:01:00.000+01:00

Today is the first of May, the beginning of the best month in my life.. in ten days me and Ali will be celebrating our first anniversary.. can you believe it has been almost one year? Boy time flies.. I have been thinking a lot today.. well, I had a lot of time for thinking because Ali travelled today on work and will be back Thursday God willing. So amidst the spells of very bad mood and feelings of missing Ali, there were moments when I was thinking that life is really strange.. one time it seems so predictable and mundane, and another time it turns out to be surprising and refreshing. I also remembered hearing this in a movie:

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to have next.

For me, the best chocolate I had till now had three little letters written on it, A L I

Mai

english words, arabic origin

2007-04-24T14:03:00.000+01:00

Just came across this site, I do not know how reliable it is but apparently it is based on the entries in the OED. It's probably not surprising to find a lot of words for food and spices originally Arabic, but I think it was unnecessary to include in the list words like Hezbollah and Islam.. I mean daa!!

Mai

egyptomania

2007-04-24T13:50:00.000+01:00

Two weekends in a row, we organised a night of Egyptian movie and snacks with friends. The first one, at a friend's house, we watched a movie called "Aw'aat Faragh" (Spare time) which was terrible. The second time, at our place, we watched "Fattah eneik" (Open your Eyes) which was idiotic. Then me and Ali watched another movie on our own, called "Dam el Ghazal" (Blood of the Deer) which was the best of the three, though predictable and stereotypical.

Finally, the spirit of egyptomania reached its peak when we finally, and to Ali's great content, installed a satellite dish at home so we can receive Arabic channels. I was never keen on this move, in fact, I do not think it's necessary at all. But I guess it would be nice to be able to watch an old egyptian movie every now and then since all the new ones are rubbish apparently.

Mai

apart from the math..

2007-04-17T10:33:00.000+01:00

We had a few sunny days here, although today does not look sunny at all. So our park experiences have been enriched by visiting some old and new places the past couple of weekends. Hyde Park is busy as always and full of tourists and Arabs, Richmond Park is massive and we only manage to sit in the sunniest spot in the cafe sipping our coffees and admiring the view, Hamsptead Heath is very relaxing and quiet to have long walks, Hampton Court is also impressive with its nicely shaped trees and maze (to be honest, the maze was a bit of a disppointment because we were in and out without much confusion or fear of spending the night in which I was actually looking forward to).

So, hope the weather will remain warm as it is, although this means that poor Ali who started to suffer from signs of hay fever already will not be in for a treat.

Mai

1+1=11

2007-04-11T11:00:00.000+01:00

Mai and Ali got engaged on the 11th day of January

Mai and Ali got married on the 11th day of May

The difference between the birthdays of Mai and Ali is 11 days

It's now 11 o'clock..

Today is Mai's and Ali's 11 months anniversary

:)

Mai

1+300=300

2007-03-26T13:16:00.000+01:00

We went to see 300 friday night. I was really excited to watch this movie since I saw its trailer about 3 months ago. Well, it was all I expected and more. It's one of those movies where you already know the story, which has very few developments anyway, and you just want to enjoy the magic of computer graphics. and they sure knew how to portray those Spartans and Persians. My only question is, if the movie is called 300, is that because they were exactly 300 warriors including Leonidas, or is Leonidas unaccounted for? :)

p.s.
unlike the disappointingly cold weekend, the weather today is nice and sunny, so I took this chance to go for a spin on the bike. I'm getting better, although it was a bit funny when the mobile in my pocket started vibrating and I was startled and ended up falling off my bike. No one noticed thank God :)

Mai

ahhhhhhh.. spring

2007-03-22T09:31:00.000Z

Well, where is spring exactly? We woke up this morning to find that it's actually snowing!! It wasn't heavy snow but it wasn't a springy weather either. Temperature today is 5 degrees.. Yes, FIVE :) The only visible sign of spring is the carpet of daffodils I saw at Trent Park on Tuesday. It was a truly Wordsworthian moment:

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

And then I ran to meet Billy to discuss the latest developments in my thesis :) Anyway, I can't wait to see the sun again, maybe next week.

Mai

10 months anniversary and then.. :(

2007-03-13T13:08:00.000Z

Well, it was bound to happen.. two days after we celebrated our 10 months anniversary, Ali left me.. He'll be back on Friday in shaa allah :) He is away on business from today and I am supposed to spend 3 whole days all alone. Do I sound pathetic? :) Well, it's the first time since our marriage that Ali leaves me for this period and the first time I will sleep all by myself in our house. It's not easy you know. I was telling a friend just now that being in love is tough work. Of course it's warmth, fun, security, companionship and a lot more, but it is also feeling lousy when your love is gone, and feeling upset when he's in a bad mood, and feeling the pain when he's sick, and feeling that you miss him when he's sitting beside you :) I know what you're thinking, "yeh, yeh, just wait after 5 years of marriage and then talk about love," :) Even if life and kids and time have their effect, I choose not to worry about them now and bask in the heat of first-year marriage :)

Ok, happy thoughts.. well, we had a very nice celebration in the weekend. The weather was great so our activities included: we went out for a walk in the sun, we went to see STOMP matinee, we ate out, and we did some exercise that I will tell you about later.

Anyway, I have loads of work to keep me busy these coming 3 days. Of course the key is to be in a good mood to actually do the work :) I guess this will be hard when the soundtrack for the coming few days will be Akon's expressive words:

Lonely, I'm so lonely
I have no body, for my own..

p.s.
(1) I miss you Ali..
(2) I am writing all this while Ali hasn't even left the country yet..

Mai :(

this is what got me where i'm at

2007-03-07T13:07:00.000Z

Regardless of the doubtful grammaticality of this sentence, "where I'm at" right now is a state of a messy house with no shower for 5 days in a row. Unfortunately, we had problems with our bathroom which developed quickly from an insiginificant leak to a full refurbishment of the walls and floor of the bathroom. This is the fifth day, and supposedly, the last. I have loads of work to do so this couldn't have come in a worse time, and I also keep getting distracted by the plumber's mobile phone ringing and the fact that... oh, sorry I have to go make some coffee for the plumber and his assistant (grrrrrrrrrrrr)

Mai

which language variety to teach?

2007-02-23T10:13:00.000Z

Well, any self-respecting linguist knows the answer is pretty simple:

"You should teach variety "x", because variety "y" is not understood in countries "a", "b", and "c" - but the majority of the people who speak "a", "b", and "c" (and don't forget "d") understand variety "x". We have also always felt an acute attraction for dialect "z", so you might consider that as well. You must realize, however, that variety "x" might not be understood outside of that particular city, so you really should teach variety "x.1", which is not to be confused with dialect "x", due to the sensitive nature of vernacular discrimination and language identity. Did we mention the lack of codification for variety "x" in general? We hope you won't try to standardize variety "x.1" without the consent of the local populace, who might not even wish to consider "x.1" a real "language".

Simple, isn't it? :) Well, the truth is there is no straightforward answer to this question. It depends on various factors including your target group, their goal from learning this variety, whether you are talking about spoken or written varieties, etc. Actually, this issue was discussed in regards to teaching a spoken variety of Arabic in the States. Probably more than any other language, Arabic has so many varieties of spoken dialects which can be considered different languages in their own right. Of course, in such a discussion, Egyptian Arabic (to my pleasure) is generally mentioned as a favourite. Yet,

"Egyptian dialect is probably understood over a wider geographical area than the other dialects, because it has been "exported" from Egypt in Egyptian films, songs, and TV programs. But the Arabs who understand Egyptian Arabic do not speak it with each other and only use it when they meet Egyptians or foreigners. So this is not an especially good reason to choose Egyptian."

as Bill Young from University of Maryland says.

p.s.
he is right of course, still Egyptian Arabic Rules :)

Mai

bananas and monkeys and football and pragmatics

2007-02-23T09:45:00.000Z

First, I suggest you have a look at this link.. Then I suggest you try to find the whole speech at the official Hearts website. Then, I suggest you give the text to linguistics students everywhere for pragmatics analysis. Then, I suggest you try not to laugh too much. Finally, I suggest you dwell on this particular sentence for a while:

"I beg you Mowgli, take the monkeys back to the safari park."

Now, I suggest to think about this question: who is linguistically more interesting: Vladimir Romanov or Jose Mourinho?

Who knew football could offer linguistics so much?!! :)

Mai

i am a thousand winds

2007-02-23T08:16:00.000Z

I just came across this short poem, not sure who wrote it though. It's simply brilliant.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

Mai

food poison

2007-02-20T10:49:00.000Z

Well, now I feel I have enriched my life expereince by having food poison! I can't go into the painful details as I still can't talk about any deep food experience fondly. Let's just say that there is a certain type of food I will forget about for a looooooooooong time.

So, with a couple of days with an exhausted body lying in bed, the only good thing was I had time to read a bit in my bedside table novel. It's called Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree. It's great so far, my first time to read for Tariq Ali. It's set in the last years of Islam in Andalusia, depicting the drama of one Muslim family in Gharnata as they cope with the changing times. As I read I can't stop thinking how easily I can relate to the details of life of this family and their own perspective to the relationship between Muslims and Christians at that time. But I also can't help wondering what would be the attitude of a Christian reading this novel and how would s/he relate to it? It takes a lot of objectivism I guess. Will tell you more about it as I read along.

Mai

valentine's day

2007-02-15T14:00:00.000Z

Well, I admit.. I always thought that Valentine's day is stupid.. I wasn't in love :) Last year it was the first time in my life I celebrated Valentine's day.. I was engaged then, and I have to say, it was great. Now yesterday was our first Valentine's day as a married couple, and yes.. I enjoyed it even more :) Without going into much details (wink), I can say that it was different from last year's in that we spent the night in, then a candle-lit dinner was involved, romantic music, exchanging of cards and wonderful gifts.. ahhhh, it was magical.

Mai

9 months anniversary

2007-02-12T23:44:00.000Z

Yes, it's 9 months already yesterday.. I can't believe how fast time goes. But you know what? I am really excited about getting closer to our one year anniversary :)

So how did we celebrate? Well we wanted to go to the movies for quite some time so we did. The movie was hardly an anniversary romantic sort of thing.. it was Blood Diamond. What can I say about it? It is a horribly good movie. Some of the scenes were really heart-aching but it revived in me the feeling that Africa is a truly unfortunate place. The terrible chain of diamonds starts with the poorest people in the world digging it up in the worst conditions to go to the hands of the rich Europeans who buy them, then to hands of the poor people of India cramped in factories to actually manufacture them only to end up in the hands of the rich people again who buy them as gifts and wear them in rings and necklaces. In this chain, who does all the work? and who gets all the enjoyment? It's sadly ironic.

anyway, to end on a happy note again, I can't stop thinking about celebrating our first annual anniversary.. hmmmm.. what will Ali do to surprise me? :)

Mai

quote of the day

2007-02-09T15:05:00.000Z

Life is too short to dwell on every bump on the road.

Frasier Crane

Mai

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow..

2007-02-08T09:21:00.000Z

Sick with a cold and a runny nose (yes, again! don't ask), I woke up to this beautiful view from our bedroom window:

And the view of our small garden:

And the view of poor Ali having to go to work in this weather:

About 40 minutes later, the views became clearer and whiter:

And it is still snowing as I'm writing.. I think I'll do something crazy and go out to my garden and play with some snow. I can't stand watching it from every window in the house and not touching it. I really wish it will go on snowing until Ali comes back from work so we can play together. Why don't they give people in London a day off from work when it snows so they can enjoy it? It doesn't snow very often here, you know!

Mai

journal of interesting negative results

2007-01-30T10:42:00.000Z

Going through my emails, I cam across this announcement:

In our scientific explorations, sooner or later we try out ideas
which, sometimes for quite deep reasons, fail at the experimental
stage. There is a palpable bias towards positive results at journals,
conferences, workshop and other outlets for reporting scientific
work. Negative results, however, can be just as interesting. We often
learn more from failures than from successes.

We are starting JINR, a new on-line Journal of Interesting Negative
Results in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. We hope
that it will become a forum for research ideas which appear good but,
upon rigorous examination, can be shown not to lead to good results.
It may also become a place to publish counter-examples to accepted
but sometimes unproven truths.

Please visit the JINR home at <http://jinr.site.uottawa.ca>

I love the title.. come on all of you failures out there with negtive results.. you can be published now ;-)

Mai

decipher this!!!

2007-01-30T10:07:00.000Z

Let's pretend that in a million years my signature in emails will be like this:

Mai Zaki
MA PhD MBCS CITP ILTM

can you figure it out?

p.s. the first two are difficult, I know ;-) and by the way, I'm not making them up.

Mai

another 'bush' linguistic analysis

2007-01-26T17:12:00.000Z

this time it's in the NYT, soon after his state of the union address.. it's actually cool, and you can search for yourself too.. try it out here.

Mai

weather forcast

2007-01-26T10:07:00.000Z

(1)
When: around 8 am
Where: BBC 1 Breakfast
What: the weather forcast

Weather man says: "the worst of this wintery weather is clearing out, this said, though, it remains to be cold today.."

(2)
When: around 9 am
Where: BBC 1 Breakfast
What: the weather forcast

Weather man says: "the worst of this wintery weather is clearing out, that said, though, it remains to be cold today.."

hmmmm... coincidence? I think not..

Mai

what a beautiful morning..

2007-01-24T09:17:00.000Z

I was still in bed when Ali told me "there's snow outside". I had to have a look. I opened the bedroom curtain and this is what I saw:

So I ran down (to get my mobile and take the pictures) and to have a look at our small garden and this is what I saw:

And as I was busy taking pictures, poor Ali had to make his own breakfast :)

And while he was eating it, I was.. taking more pictures:

Finally, Ali was leaving for work and as I was saying to him "oh, why can't you take the day off so we can go out and play with the snow", I took one last picture..

Mai

yesterday's storm

2007-01-19T14:13:00.000Z

This is what the storm has done to our neighbourhood as pictured from my home office window. Luckily, our shed is doing fine, and my precious swing is in it's place :)

Mai

a very late season's greetings

2007-01-19T14:00:00.000Z

I'm still going through old emails from around Christmas and new year's time. I just read this email and I thought I have to post it here. At least it kind of changes the rather sad mood of yesterday's blogging.

So, here you are, this is how a linguist sends season's greetings:

Semitic:
Arabic: أطيب تهانيً بعيد الميلاد ، وبالعام الجديد، وكل عام وأنتم بخير.

عساكم من عواده. بعوده الأيام

Hebrew: חג מולד שמח ושנה טובה

(chag molad sameach v’shanah tovah)

Sino-Tebetan:

Chinese (Mandarin): 聖誕快樂 新年快樂 [圣诞快乐 新年快乐]

(shèngdàn kuàilè xīnnián kuàilè)

Indo-European:

English: Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Persian: كريسماس مبارك / سال نو مبارك

German: Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr.

Romance Languages & Matrix:

French: Joyeux Noël et bonne année.

Italian: Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo.

Spanish: Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo

Latin: Natale hilare et annum faustum.

Mai

one life is not enough..

2007-01-18T13:29:00.000Z

Right now I'm listening to an Arabic song by Amal Wahby saying:

3omr wa7ed mesh kefaya (one life is not enough)
kelma kanet fil-aghany (this was a saying in songs)
2enama 7asalet ma3aya (but it happened to me)
wel kalam luh ta3m tany (and now words have a different taste)

The wind is blowing strongly outside. I am stuck in writing a paper that I have to finish before Monday. I am so stressed that I'm on the brink of exploding. I'm thinking of the miracle of life, and of death. I wish I didn't have to work at all today. I wish all the clocks in the world would stop for one day.

Now the next song says:

2al eih morad ibn adam? (he asked, what is man's wish?)
2oltelo ta2a (i said a meal)
2al eih yekafiy manamo? (he asked, what would be enough for his sleep?)
2oltolo sha2a (i said a small space)
2al eih ye3agel be3omro? (he asked, what brings about his death quickly?)
2oltelo za2a (i said a push)
2al 7ad fiha mokhallad? (he asked, is there anyone immortal?)
2oltelo la2a.. (i said no)

The translation cannot do it justice, but at least it will get you thinking..

Mai

life is nothing but ups and downs

2007-01-12T15:40:00.000Z

It has been a long while since I last blogged. I did not exactly intend that, but I was caught up in a swirl of events, some happy, some sad. I don't want to sound all wise or anything, but sometimes certain events happen and make you think about your life and how mortal we are. Of course the loss of a loved one is both the best and the worst example. Two days before new year's, we lost my mother-in-law. God rest her soul. And as much as I wanted to visit home soon, we had to fly to Cairo in a sad unexpected visit. I don't know what to say really except that I now feel closer to Ali more than ever. The loss of a mother is never an easy thing to adapt to, but I hope I will be a good consolation to my beloved husband.

Mai

cold cold copenhagen

2006-12-08T13:24:00.000Z

Yes it is colder than London.. and more expensive too. So what is good about Copenhagen (do not know how to type a question mark on this keyboard, or an apostrophe, or the other round bracket(.. Well, I do not know yet because I have not seen anything.. yet. But so far, my presentation went very well, the workshop today was very good too.. so I am now ready to forget all about work and just have fun.

Mai

the ALI system :)

2006-11-29T14:26:00.000Z

Well, before you start picturing Ali doing something of a system, this has nothing to do with him :) But the ALI system does exist.. it's the Arabic Language Interactive system. I don't know how good it is but I thought it might be useful for some.. plus, I got a kick out of the name :)

I love the ALI system :)

Mai

ali-g and noam chomsk-y

2006-11-29T14:25:00.001Z

Billy posted this on his blog, it's hilarious.. check it out.

Mai

100% english, 50% racist?

2006-11-16T11:08:00.000Z

Monday night, there was this program "100% English" on Channel 4. I don't know if other people who watched it felt the same uneasiness that I felt. Let me give you an idea what it was about. Basically, it was posing the question whether there are people who are 100% English through dealing with 8 case studies and a sophisticated DNA test to breakdown their ethnic background. I'm not against the idea of being proud of your ethniciy, but I just couldn't help feeling that there were very strong racist undertones. And this got me thinking, "so what's really the point of this show anyway?" Does it just prove that some people who might have thought they are purely English have been living a lie and shows them how wrong they were through taking this DNA test which, I might add, we have not been told how reliable it is or how reliable are its interpretations by the geneticist they used whom they didn't even mention his/her name? Or does the program have a hidden agenda? Well, I have to say that, against the background of the heated debates about multicultural Britain recently, this program was doing a little more than promoting xenophobia. The worst case was that old lady from Kent who haven't been to London since the sixties (and never had a spring roll which turned out to be ironic since some of her ethnic origin turned out to be Chinese). I tried to sympathize with her but she was openly saying that she hates the fact that all those 'other' people are filling her country. When she went to see the neighbourhood where her family's old shop was and saw that one building was replaced by a mosque and said "how terrible", I was gobsmacked. "Why do you have to drag religion into this?", I thought. Again the media very cleverly managed to impose the idea that it's Muslims who are the source of trouble. It's really sad. But as I said, after watching the program I tried to put myslef in the same position. What if Cairo became overcrowded with people from other countries, other cultures and other faiths, wouldn't it bother me? Well, to be honest, I think it would a little bit. So I guess the question now is: does 100% tolerance really exist?

Overall, I think this program has revealed that everyone has his own little prejudices, whether we acknowledge it or not. But the point will always be, how justified are those prejudices? I mean, you should have seen the faces of the people on this show when they were told about their ethnic breakdown which includes a class called "MiddleEastern". I bet when those people heard this, images of backward war-stricken poorly-dressed Arab terrorists with guns in their hands sprung to their minds. This is the sad state of the world we are living in.

p.s.
if you are by any chance tempted to take this DNA test, check this out.

Mai

6 months anniversary

2006-11-11T22:53:00.000Z

I really can't believe that I've been married for 6 months.. it feels like only last week we got married and only yesterday we were on our honeymoon.. wow, time flies.. but, as we say in Egypt, only happy times pass by quickly.

Our celebration this time had to be very limited due to career-related issues (i.e. Ali has an exam). So there were no fancy meals or romantic outings.. but we did celebrate in a very special place, our own home.. our own home that we chose together and loved together after viewing it twice.. our home that we furnished together piece by piece and still think together of what else we need to put here and there.. our home that we spent one night in after being married for 2 days and slept on a mattress on the floor.. I loved our quiet celebration at home..

And in order to cheer Ali up from the boring mood of studying and to express what I really think about my husband I love, I gave him a very nice card, and with the card came the thing you see him wearing in this picture.

Perhaps a close up will make things clearer:

Happy anniversary Ali.. looking forward to our first year anniversary :)

Mai

hmmm... interesting

2006-11-09T15:11:00.000Z

I just had a CfP for a conference on "Globalisation and Writing". It started like this:

"We live in interesting times.."

Well.. things looking good, yep, it's good to know that I'm living in an interesting time.. I have to say though that I've always wished to live in another time.. if I can only go back a limited number of years, I would definitely want to live in the 60s.. if my time machine is unstoppable, then I would defenitely go to the time of the pharoas and preferrably be a queen :) Anyway, let's get back to the conference.. so the email goes on to say:

"In the last twenty-five years neoliberalism and globalisation have transformed the world. People live under the shadows of climate change, wars, AIDS and poverty."

Hello.. not exactly my idea of interesting. I want my time machine.

Mai

is bush a normal, educated human being?

2006-11-07T12:55:00.000Z

This is interesting to read, John Sowa analyses Bush's language:

George W. is an interesting example of the issues involved in
characterizing a dialect. He was born in Connecticut, went
to prep school and college in Connecticut, went to Harvard
Business School, and spent his summers in Maine. Later he
tried to run for Congress in Texas and lost because he sounded
like a Connecticut Yankee.

So he hired a Texan to teach him how to say "bidness" and
some Bible Belters to teach him how to talk "Christian".
Meanwhile, he has Karl Rove telling him what words and
phrases to use and avoid.

As a result, he sounds as if he's listening to an internal
tape in one dialect and trying to do a simultaneous translation
to another. (Some people have suggested that it's not a tape,
but an actual radio transmission from Karl Rove.)

His brother Jeb, by contrast, talks like a normal, educated
human being. Instead of running for office in Texas, Jeb
went to Florida, where a Connecticut accent is almost
indistinguishable from a southern Florida accent (as opposed
to northern Florida, which is part of the "Deep South").

For me, the inevitable conclusion is that Bush is not a normal, educated human being. Oh, who am I kidding, we all knew that already :)

Mai

test your english

2006-11-07T12:50:00.000Z

A recent debate on the Corpora list was discussing the differences between British and American English. It started when someone was asking if there is a tool to do automatic conversion of texts/words from British English to American English and vice versa. An important point is that the differences between the two varieties extends beyond the well known spelling differences (eg. bahaviour vs. behavior, centre vs. center). The more interesting, and perhaps less known, differences are in fact lexical, grammatical and idiomatic. I thought it would be nice to mention some of the examples and to.. well, test your English. So which of those words/constructions are British and which are American?

lift vs. elevator
"do you have" vs. "have you got"
"the government is" vs. "the government are"
"half four" vs. "4:30"
"go to the hospital" vs. "go to hospital"
"commoner" vs. "more common"
"her skin has spots on it" vs. "her skin has spots on"

Of course if you think that the answers are straightforward, well.. think again.

Mai

wiki wiki

2006-11-03T13:47:00.000Z

This is a Wiki for computational linguistics. It just started but I think it would be a good source of all sorts of information about computational linguistics. Check it out.

Mai

chacarron

2006-11-02T08:36:00.000Z

bede de bede de bededidi de bede de bede bededidi de, chacarron chacarron, debididi de... bla bla bla yata yata yata...

check it out: Chacarron
sometimes you just want to enjoy nonsense.. :)

Mai

so what do you do? oh.. this and that

2006-10-29T22:24:00.000Z

Yes, this is the story of my life nowadays.. After recovering from eid week which felt nothing like eid at all, I am ok again. So yesterday a couple of friends invited us to have dinner with them and other friends in a Peruvian restaurant. So there we were, a very nice mixture of cultures: an Australian married to a Peruvian, an American couple one of them born in Jamaica, a young lady from Barbados and an Egyptian couple all having dinner in London. Actually we came to know that this restaurant Tito's is the only authentic Peruvian restaurant in London (if you click on the link though it will tell you that the description of the cuisine is American!!!!! but take my word for it). It was hot and noisy, the food was really nice but I really think it helps a lot to have a Peruvian with you to recommend the interesting things. Then it so happened that I was asked what do I do for a living.. ah yes.. :) so first I started with the general PhD thing and linguistics. The reaction to that was: "isn't linguistics that thing about dialects and stuff?" So I did some explaining.. Then I was asked what exactly do I do in my PhD.. so I had to go to the "this and that" story.. and there was a hint of sarcasm and a touch of humour that I detected in someone's question: "you're doing a PhD on this and that?" Yeh yeh..

Well.. no hard feelings.. so what if financial traders who make a lot of money don't get that I am dedicating a few years of my life to "this and that"? ...mmm, actually, it would be nice if I can get a career out of it in the end.. do you think I have a chance? Anyone?

Mai

happy eid

2006-10-22T23:58:00.000+01:00

My first eid with Ali is tomorrow, he's working from 9 to 6 and I'm in a conference from 9 to 8, and it's forcast to be rainy and windy... happy eid to us and everyone.. :) But what really makes it feel like eid is that I managed to get the famous song "ya leilet el eid" (eid night) for the legendary Om Kalthoum just minutes ago.. ok, got to go sleep now, have a looooooooong day tomorrow and we have to wake up early to catch the 7:00 am eid prayer before heading to the city together.. of course i'll be humming this song all night long :)

ya leilet el eid 'anestina (eid night welcome)
we gadeitty el amal feina (you refresh hope inside us)
ya leilet el eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid.. (eid night)

Mai :)

the perfect workshop

2006-10-17T14:19:00.000+01:00

On what?

"Workshop on Common Sense and Intelligent User Interfaces"

And where?

Honolulu, Hawaii

Aloha academia.. :)

Mai

quote of the day, week and probably month

2006-10-02T21:42:00.000+01:00

Get me to my self..

(as seen on London cabs)

Mai

Ramadan Karim, Happy Ramadan

2006-09-28T15:41:00.001+01:00

I should've posted this on Saturday, anyway.. here it is:

Mai

just thoughts

2006-09-22T09:13:00.000+01:00

Thought (1)
I am increasingly emotional these days because of Ramadan coming up, I am excited about my first Ramadan with my husband, I am sad because I really wanted to be with my family even for a few days during this month. Discovering a way of listening to Radio Cairo online a couple of days ago made it worse. It brought back very happy memories of our iftar traditions and made me even more homesick.

Thought (2)
Sitting facing the patio door, sipping my coffee on this rainy and gloomy day, I just saw a squirrel in my garden and it made me think about my life here and how fast it changed.

Thought (3)
The musical background now is a very short piece of typical eastern, kind of religious, music accompanying a Happy Ramadan greeting ecard I received from one of my friends in Egypt which just keeps playing on and on. It reminded me again of how much I miss my friends and the whole Ramadan atmosphere.

Well.. they are just thoughts.

Mai

why was i born?

2006-09-21T12:03:00.000+01:00

It's a nice day, it's sunny, I'm sitting on the swing in my small garden, having a cold glass of pomegranate juice, and listening to Billie Holiday singing:

Why was I born?
Why am I livin'?
What do I get?
What am I givin'
Why do I want for things
I dare not hope for?
What can I hope for?
I wish I knew.

I'm meditating.. I'm thinking about life, love, the future, the past, Ali, family, friends.. I close my eyes.. I enjoy the feeling of the nice cold breeze flirting with my hair.. I'm getting poetic.. I'm meditating..

I open my eyes.. I hear the buzzing of a big bee coming towards me.. I'm scared.. I run inside the kitchen, I see that the washing is done and I have to air the laundry, I pass by the pile of books on the dining table and remeber the loads of reading I have to do today. I hear Billie now saying:

Can't you see
What love and romance have done to me
I'm not tthe same as I used to be
This is my last affair

I'm blogging.. :) God, I love it.

Mai

Sinatra and Gaddafi

2006-09-17T13:02:00.000+01:00

So did you figure it out yet? Well ok, there are two things that Sinatra and Gaddafi have in common: both have performances in their names in London and me and Ali saw both. It was such an entertaining (and expensive) week.. on the 11th we went to see Sinatra and then on the 16th we went to see Gaddafi. Both shows were a very good choice. Actually, from the artistic point of view there was another thing that both shows have in common.. the combination of live performance and screen shots. This style is very new to me and I like it. In case of the Sinatra show of course that was essential since no one can actually immitate Blue Eyes so it had to be him singing on the screens. The production was very good, and I liked the way it explored his journey of life from "come fly with me" to "and now the end is near" against the background of the dramatically changing America.

The Gaddafi performance, on the other hand, was surprisingly impressive. The music was awesome, the script very well written, the choreography very good although I thought the dancers' implementation could be better. Of course the character itself had a lot to offer, with it's known eccentricities and streaks of madness.. And again major historic events provided a rich background for the story. The actor playing Gaddafi was very good, so was the one playing Regan.. those two had a lot going on between them :) Anyway, if you want to have an idea about how American diplomacy works, go watch Gaddafi. Of course there is a lot that has been claimed to be Gaddafi's own doing but still the truth is no one really knows for sure. Well.. when it comes to politics, can anyone be sure of anything?

Mai

it had to be you..

2006-09-11T11:21:00.000+01:00

Why do I do just as you say? Why must I just give you your way?
Why do I sigh? Why don't I try to fortget?
It must have been that something lovers call fate
Kept me saying "I had to wait"
I saw them all, just couldn't fall till we met
It had to be you, it had to be you
I wondered around, and I finally found
The somebody who, could make me be true and could make me be blue
And even be glad, just to be sad, thinking of you..

Yeah, it's our 4 months anniversary today. And since we will be busy tonight I thought to blog about it now instead. Since early morning I've been listening to Sinatra.. hmmm.. I wonder why is that? Could it be because we are celebrating our anniversary tonight by going to the Sinatra show at the London Palladium? Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.. yes it is :) I'm so excited about this.. I'm so excited about today, I'm so excited about this week, actually I'm so excited since yesterday when we finally had a mixer in our bathroom basin instead of the weird English tradition of two separate taps.

Oh oh.. and I'm also excited about next Saturday.. why? well, I'll just leave you with a clue and you try to figure it out: what do Frank Sinatra and the Lybian president Gaddafi have in common? :)

Happy Anniversary my hubby..

Mai

news flash

2006-09-05T12:20:00.000+01:00

We went to Notting Hill carnival, first time for me, I expected more, we danced for a while behind one of the floats, Caribbean memories all over the place :)

We were involved in a game of murder mystery with a group of friends, very interesting, no one guessed who the murderer was correctly, I played the role of Chow Pat, a Chinese young daughter of HE Hung Dung (Ali) but actually a secret martial arts expert on a mission :) p.s. at least I had a silk kimono and chop sticks in my hair :)

Finally, time is still tissue.. :)

Mai

time is tissue

2006-08-24T16:41:00.000+01:00

So time has been compared to lots of things.. In the West, 'time is money', in the East, 'time is a sword, if you don't cut it, it will cut you'.. time is a healer, time is a traitor, time flies, time of your life, summer time, as time goes by, time to say goodbye.. Between the proverbs and the songs, the new thing now is "time is tissue" attributed to a poisonous snakes expert in the movie "Snakes on a Plane" we went to see yesterday. It was cool, although as Ali says, I was closing my eyes and clinging hard to his arm almost half the time.. :) Well, there were very bad scenes. Needless to say of course, if you are snakesphobic (there must be a better word) watching this movie can actually bring about your death. I just like the idea of the movie, I've watched a lot of 'disasters on planes' movies but snakes.. that's a first. I don't care about how many ridiculously unbelievable scenes which can never happen on a real plane were there, and I don't care how this movie is no different than any movie with a group of people that depends on several stereotypical characters (in this case, a collection of a flirty, a serious and a gay flight attendants, a snobbish buisnessman, a black celebrity singer, oh.. and of course a tough FBI agent who finally saves the day), I enjoyed the rush of adrenalin every time a snake jumps to attack.

So, remember.. time is tissue, whatever that means.. :)

Mai

and another thing or two about america

2006-08-16T00:53:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, actually Monday, I was reading this article in The Times about joke-telling. Then there was this survey and it turns out that "the WORLD's funniest joke"starts with: "two hunters from New Jersey were walking in the woods.." Ah.. for the love of God..

And then yesterday, by which I mean Tuesday, President Bush came out on us with another one of his carefully chosen pithy words. This time he described the war between Israel and Lebanon as "a war between freedom and terror".. Can someone please shut him up..

Mai

peace, propaganda & the promised land

2006-08-16T00:07:00.000+01:00

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.
Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.

I think this is very good.. (and for linguists, you'll see a familiar face)

Mai

3 months, 3 weeks, 3 questions

2006-08-11T14:45:00.000+01:00

It's my third month anniversary today..it's strange how time flies when one is happy. Let me first warn you that I am quite emotional today, there's a lot on my mind. I've been thinking about the last 3 months of my life and how quickly they flew and how I feel so lucky that I have Ali by my side. I've been thinking about the last 3 weeks of my life and how sick I was (and still am) and how it feels like I've been sick for ages and how this sickness brought me and Ali closer to each other. I've been also thinking about my uncle, who passed away 2 days ago, and my memories of him when me and my bro were kids and how life can be so good to some people and not so good to others. I've been thinking about the latest events and how it is so unfair to see Lebanese women and children running for their lives and at the same time it seems unfair to see thousands of people fearing getting on a plane again. I've been thinking about all this, and in the end I was asking myself: Can happiness be a life-long feeling or is this too much to ask for? Can we always be optimistic about the future or we are bound to feel sometimes that it's a mad mad world we're living in? And, do we shape our own lives or does life shape us?

Happy anniversary my hubby..

Mai

early morning reflections

2006-07-28T06:45:00.000+01:00

It's 6:45 am and I am sitting in the kitchen sipping a cup of tea with honey and lemon. I'm much better, thank God, but still recovering and at the same time trying hard not to catch a cold. Didn't want to disturb Ali so thought I would sit downstairs for a while. You know, just now I was thinking that this has been the first time any of us was really sick since we got married, and God he was great. Without going into details of how he took care of me, it's enough to say that he really showed me a new meaning of love.. It's simply awesome.

Mai

shingles shingles little star, how i wonder what you are

2006-07-25T16:15:00.000+01:00

Well, it's a lot of pain, followed by a lot of pain, complemented by a lot of p a i n. I'm just grateful that I had the time to prepare and enjoy Ali's birthday on Friday because right the next day the pain was starting to be too much to take and we had to go to a walk-in clinic. Since then I've been in bed, suffering from the painful electrifying shivers of pain from the blisters on my arm and the back of my neck and the sleepless uncomfortable nights. Just today I am starting to feel a little better, although I'm still incapable of lifting a finger.. the medicine is really exhausting me. I really hope it ends soon and with no marks.

In the mean time, my time-out of the world of real work has been depressingly filled with news watching. First, I was appalled with the rest of the world with the "shit" Bush comment, then I was reassured of the biased coverage of the CNN when they insisted on calling the British Foreign Office Minister "Junior" because he said something they didn't like, and finally my faith in a little bit of honesty was restored watching Jeremy Bowen on the BBC saying that it's not logical for Israel to say that it's war is with Hizbullah only because it's destroying the whole of Lebanon.

Ah... I was wondering today if it's ever going to be possible to watch the news one day without hearing that someone died somewhere..

Mai

it's all about him today.. :)

2006-07-21T22:59:00.000+01:00

Yes, because today is a glorious day in history.. the day when Ali was born :) And of course as this is Ali's first birthday since marriage, it had to be special. I think today I proved that I could do a few surprises of my own. Let me explain a bit:

Surprise (1):
You should have seen Ali's face when he opened the door and walked in back from work to see the stairs opposite him lined with flowers and papers on each step telling our story of when we first met, our first emails, our first text messages, our engagement, our wedding, our honeymoon.. all with dates and pictures. It really looked nice.

Surprise (2):
On our coffee table I assembled all our honeymoon photos which I finally got to print, plus other photos from our trips to Margate and Devon.. he didn't expect that.

Surprise (3):
Well.. we had to have a special dinner. So today I cooked for him stuffed chicken breasts served with rice and green peas, very tasty, and for dessert.. nothing but his favourite: creme caramel.

Surprise (4):
This is a major multilayered surprise which involves his gift. without going into much details, let me just say he worked a bit of a sweat to find it. It was like a game with written rhymed clues hidden all over the house, it involved 3 presents and a card and it's all on video. This was just awesome, he really enjoyed it and he loved the presents.

So.. I spent weeks planning and thinking, and days buying and implementing, but it was all worth the happiness I saw in his eyes and his sweet words.. "I can't remember a birthday better than this in my whole life"..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY HUBBY.. :)

Mai

and a little linguistic note from Torquay

2006-07-12T16:44:00.000+01:00

"I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant."

Written on a card, in a shop
Torquay, Devon

I tried to convince Ali that it's interesting from the linguistic point of view, but I think he found it a little boring :) What can I do?, I just like the embedding :)

Mai

celebrate a l'orange

2006-07-12T12:24:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was our 2 months anniversary.. and this is how our celebration began:

and this is how it ended:

am I a great cook or what? quack.. quack.. :)

Mai

28, 28.. surprise, surprise

2006-07-11T20:45:00.000+01:00

My first birthday as Mrs. Ali Hafiz.. God it was a very nice birthday. The best part is the surprise element and the suspense involved. Let me explain:

Surprise (1): Thursday 6/7
Ali tells me before going to work don't cook today, we're eating out. We had dinner at a very nice Italian seafood restaurant in North Finchley.

Surprise (2): Friday 7/7
Ali tells me the night before make a small suitcase for both of us and come and meet me at Moorgate station at 6. He doesn't tell me where we are going. It turns out that we are going to Devon by train and spent the whole weekend there. We had a great time, enjoyed walking by the beach, eating stuff from the French market, we even had a bit of a tan before it turned windy on Sunday noon. We came back Sunday evening and watched the penalties of the world cup final at King's Cross station.

Surprise (3): Sunday 9/7
Ali tells me on our way back in the train that the minute I walk in the house I will find my birthday present. I didn't have a cluse what it is and kept asking him questions but he wouldn't tell me. It turned out to be a cute swing in the garden. He had a friend go collect it and set it up while we were away.

Surprise (4): Monday 10/7
Ali tells me in the morning we are eating out this day too. The whole time he convinced me that we are celebrating my birthday this year alone without telling anyone because it's my first birthday after marriage.. he had me fooled for a good while :) Then when we stepped in the restaurant it turned out that he invited a group of friends and they had cake for me and everything. When we came back home he even had a surprise birthday card for me.

Well.. what more can I say? I really enjoyed it.. HAPPY 28TH BIRTHDAY TO ME :)

Mai

rediscovering me

2006-07-05T13:20:00.000+01:00

Well, after a lot of concerned messages and comments worrying over my long disappearance from the blogosphere, I am back. It's not that I spend too much time cooking, it's not that I am crushed by England's defeat in the world cup, it's not that I gave up on blogging.. it's simply that I was rediscovering myself. June was one of the most important months of my life. I was experiencing the full fledge of the new me: the married/student/socially active woman that I am now and will be for a long time, and all I can say is: wow.. it's exciting, demanding, surprising and tiring :) Let's take each one at a time.

Being married: well, there a lot of 'nice' things about being married ;-), but there are a lot of demands too. But fear not, I'm doing great in the cooking department (so far) but the housework has been too much since we had a lot of things to organise in our first month in the house.
Being a student: well, I have to admit, this suffered a lot during the preparations before marriage then there was a long holiday. My biggest challenege now is time management, i.e. to organise my time so I can spend a fixed number of hours studying each day while doing all the little and big things in everyday life too.
Being socially active: well, this is also important and I know I will be able to enjoy my weekends better if I study well and not feel guilty every time I go out.

So, June is over and I think I pretty much did well. For one thing, we really sorted out a lot of things around the house. Of course I still have to learn to take care of our garden since I have no clue and I still have unpacking to do, but we're getting there. For another, I was lucky to have this conference presentation on the 30th so I had to prepare for it. It went very well, except for the fact that by the end of the day I was falling asleep. But my poster was great and looked interesting, I met some Syrian students at Essex University who passed me the important piece of information that PhD really means "permanent head damage" :), and I attended a lecture by Andrew Radford, dubbed "the most read living linguist" compared to Chomsky who apprently is "the most cited living linguist" :) linguists and their superlatives, hehe..

So now it's July.. and we all know what this means: celebrations celebrations celebrations.. my mum's birthday was 2 days ago, my birthday is coming up soon, Ali's birthday follows, then my bro's birthday is the last. Exciting, isn't it? We got engaged on the 11th of Jan, we got married on the 11th of May and it's exactly 11 days between our birthdays :) it's fate I tell ya.. Of course our birthdays this year are extra special and so will be the celebrations.

Well.. I just want to say that Mai the blogger is back.. she has been very busy lately but she is all so enthusiastic as ever.. :) ok, I better go study some more before I have to think what are we having for dinner tonight to get it ready before the match.. France and Portugal.. wow, I love Zido but I also love Figo so I don't know what to do.. :)

Mai

our first monthly anniversary: a sun, a beach, a petrol station, and a singing scotsman

2006-06-13T16:27:00.000+01:00

So I think it's about time I jump in and blog about our first monthly anniversary which was last Sunday 11/6/06. The weather was great and Ali prepared for us to go and spend it on the beach in Margate. It was my first time to go there and God it was packed. So we had a nice time sunbathing, although we didn't consider going for a swim with the crowd first because of, well, the crowd and second because it was too poor compared to the wonderful beaches of St. Lucia. Anyway, by the end of the day we got into the car and started driving towards London. A few minutes later Ali noticed that the heat light was flashing in front of him on the dashboard so we stopped at a petrol station to check the water in the car. To make a long story short, in the careful attempt to open the water bottle it kind of exploded and the cap flew away. We kept searching for it for over an hour. After a lot of searching, people helping, mechanics phoning, we decided to leave the car and return to London by train. From Victoria station we took the tube home and after passing a few stops a man wearing the Scottish traditional outfit started singing out of the blue with a very loud voice. Actually he was not bad. It was really funny when the old lady that accompanied him was shouting at him to shut up and at some point was smacking him with her purse :) We reached home a little after midnight.

So, it was a pretty memorable first monthly anniversary and I enjoyed it despite all the hassle. Of course yesterday I had to go buy another cap and meet Ali after work and go to Margate again by train to get the car back. hmmm... Margate 2 days in a row.. I think that's more than enough.

Mai

bye bye caribbean, welcome back london

2006-05-30T19:19:00.000+01:00

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooo everyone.. I AM BACK :) a happily married woman now :)

We arrived yesterday morning from the beautiful St. Lucia.. there is SO much to tell you and MANY pictures to share with you from the wedding in Egypt and then the honeymoon in the Caribbean.. Once I get settled in my new house will get to blogging right away.. But for my loyal fans and followers in the cyber world, this is just a quick warm up..

Ya mon.. :)

Mai (aka Mrs. Ali Hafiz)

Mission Marriage: 11/5/2006

2006-05-11T07:11:00.000+01:00

Song of the day:

I finally found someone
Who knocks me off my feet
I finally found the one
That makes me feel complete
It started over coffee
We started out as friends
It's funny how from simple things
The best things begin

This time is different
And it's all because of you
It's better than it's ever been
'Cause we can talk it through
My favouite line was
"Can I call you sometime"
It's all you had to say
To take my breath away

This is it, oh I finally found someone
Someone to share my life
I finally found the one
To be with every night
'Cause whatever I do
It's just got to be you
My life has just begun
I finally found someone

Did I keep you waiting? I didn't mind
I apologise, baby that's fine
I would wait forever just to know you were mine
You know I love your hair
Are you sure it looks right?
I love what you wear
Isn't it too tight?
You're exceptional
I can't wait for the rest of my life

This is it, oh I finally found someone
Someone to share my life
I finally found the one
To be with every night
'Cause whatever I do
It's just got to be you
My life has just begun
I finally found someone

Wish me a happy day everyone. And of course you know what the next post should be:

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED :)

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 1

2006-05-10T08:17:00.000+01:00

Oh my God.. oh my God.. oh my God.. I'm getting married tomorrow!!!

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 2 (retrospect)

2006-05-10T08:15:00.000+01:00

I'm losing it.. I'm dead tired and extremely excited.

And I got my dress.. :)

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 3 (retrospect)

2006-05-10T08:12:00.000+01:00

This time is absolutely crazy.. I can't begin to decribe it.

Highlight of the day: I got my ring :)

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 4

2006-05-07T01:44:00.000+01:00

Change of lyrics:

Come to me baby.. don't keep me waiting..
Another night without you here and I'll go crazy..

:)

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 5 (retrospect)

2006-05-07T01:24:00.000+01:00

Suddenly, my life is complete again.. my mood is great again.. life is better.. Cairo is nicer..

Ok, ok.. ALI IS HERE.. yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay :)

Oh, and I heard that this blog has a number of fans in the Egyptian community in London now following our story.. (hello Anne) enjoy everyone.. :)

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 6

2006-05-05T14:07:00.000+01:00

Time is flying.. time is flying.. time is flying..

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 7 (retrospect)

2006-05-05T14:03:00.000+01:00

After a lot of running around, both me and Ali got our shoes in one day.. yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay :)

Why can't brides just wear trainers? No one will notice the difference really.. :)

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 8

2006-05-03T09:54:00.000+01:00

Since I woke up this morning and while I was writing the previous post, all I could think of is the countdown they do in movies.. 10 9 8 ... I wish I could just do that now and in a matter of seconds I will reach 1, the wedding party, and then total relaxation in our honeymoon away from everything. hmmmmmmmmm...

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 9 (retrospect)

2006-05-03T09:44:00.000+01:00

By the end of the day I was dead so no time to blog. Two important highlights of the day was (1) having the first dress trial, and (2) visiting the villa where the wedding will be held for the first time. My impression in both was great thank God. And of course, as I was running around here making decisions about lights and decoration and how many centimeters to be taken in from each side of the dress, Ali was also running around the house arranging things and getting to know the neighbours and spending his first night in our hut all alone. This was the only thing that bothered me and kept me awake till 3 am.. I really really wanted to be with him yesterday. Anyway, in the past few days I have been sleeping around the same time, which is not a very good idea for a bride about a week before her wedding, but what can I do? Let's hope things will get calmer soon.. (yeh right).

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 10

2006-05-01T23:53:00.000+01:00

The real hard work began today. Spent all day running errands and bought loads of stuff. I am absolutely beat now but at least it was a highly productive day. Oh, and I enjoyed driving again for the first time this vacation.

Wish I could be there with Ali tomorrow when he officially gets the keys of our hut.

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 11

2006-04-30T21:13:00.000+01:00

My second day in bed, but this will/has to end tomorrow. I feel better, not 100 %, but I can't afford to lose more time.

I don't know why I feel so stressed today. Is it because I miss Ali so much? or maybe because I keep thinking that time is running and I haven't done anything yet? Probably both. Tomorrow it will be only 10 days.. God, help me!

p.s.
change of lyrics.. and the answer is yes..

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 12

2006-04-29T12:16:00.000+01:00

There are only two things in the world I really want now: (1) I want time to fly really quickly until Ali comes to Cairo, and (2) I want time to stop for a couple of days until I get better and am able to do the things I need to do.

Can anyone make the two wishes come true?

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 13 (retrospect)

2006-04-29T12:12:00.000+01:00

There is never a good time to be sick, but you have no idea how this is a very very very bad time for me to be sick sick sick.

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 14

2006-04-27T12:11:00.000+01:00

Me very tired.. me can no blog properly.. me miss Ali :)

Ok, a bit of a background: between 6:00 am in London yesterday and 6:00 am in Cairo today I had just 1 hour of very uncomfortable sleep on the plane. Although the flight was quiet and although I had all 3 seats for myself, I couldn't sleep.

So this time I didn't do any airport blogging, of course it makes sense since I had Ali with me and we kept on chatting till it was 5 minutes before take off and I had to run for it and almost missed my flight :)

Anyway, I can't begin to describe how tired I feel now. I'm sure I'll lie again in bed very soon. What I really hope for now is that the coughing and sneezing that have been showing their presence since I landed are just very occasional visitors :)

Just 2 weeks to go.. and the Cairo chapter of this mission begins :)

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 15

2006-04-26T06:31:00.000+01:00

Yes it's 6:30 am.. of course I can't sleep, at least I had 4 and half hours of passing out in bed. I know someone will be sleeping all the way on the plane tonight.

Ok, wis me luck in the final preparations.

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 16 cont.

2006-04-25T13:08:00.000+01:00

Back at home an hour ago, on my way out again now. Just wanted to say:

I AM PANICKING...

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 16

2006-04-25T09:37:00.000+01:00

Oh God.. is it just me or time seems to be really flying? :) Let's talk numbers: it's now just 1 day till I fly to Cairo, 11 days till Ali comes to Cairo, and 16 days till our wedding.. hmmm. The weird thing is that I have very mixed feelings about leaving tomorrow.. one time I'm happy to go to be with my family in these days, another time I don't want to go and and want to stay with Ali to help him with the final move, another another time I want to go quickly to do the million things I need to do back home before the wedding, another another another time I wish I could just skip on the wedding party :)

If I'm not making much sense, just ignore me :) Anyway, got to go.. last chance for shopping today.

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 17

2006-04-24T11:04:00.000+01:00

Finally I got some decent sleep. I was dead beat yesterday and went to bed around 1 am and sort of passed out till I woke up today at 10 am. Yesterday I did a lot of packing and we went in the afternoon to our house to put one of my suitcases and 5 boxes of different sizes there before I leave. 3 of those boxes are just filled with books and papers. This morning I just realised that this was the last time for me to see the house before I come back to it with Ali after marriage and then I can really call it my own. Every day I get more and more excited about the idea of living in my own house :) It sure is a great feeling. I mean this would be the first time since I came to this country when I can say I have my own place, plus of course it's only when you get married that you start living in your house rather than your parents' house. I also realise it's a huge responsibility but I really look forward to it.

So, I am quickly having my coffee now with a nice slim-fast chocolate bar :) and thinking of the things I need to do today. Most importantly, I need to solve the little suit case crisis I have, in addition to many small errands to run, oh... and more packing of course.

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 18

2006-04-23T08:32:00.000+01:00

So I have a very tiring day, running around since morning, my whole body is aching, I sleep late and still I wake up very early for no reason. I don't like this. I want to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep but it seems that my mind won't let my body rest because my mind can't take a break any more. So, here I am, wishing I could sleep again, having a cup of tea, thinking of my body/mind conflict and I found myself looking for Anita Baker singing:

What have you done to me
I can't eat, I cannot sleep
And I'm not the same anymore
I don't know what to do
Cos all of me wants all of you
Do I stand alone at the shore?
Now once I could turn away
From everything I feel today
But, now I want to walk through your door

But I've got to know - oh
Body and soul
That you've got no doubt
inside and out
We are whole - oh
Body and soul
Don't leave me out in the cold
Just love me body and soul

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 19

2006-04-22T09:27:00.000+01:00

Oh God... it's just 19 days.. :)

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 20 (retrospect)

2006-04-22T09:10:00.000+01:00

Sorry, I was too busy during the day to say anything and by night I was too tired. Yesterday was exhausting, both physically and psychologically. Woke up 9 am, worked on packing all day long till 7 pm, went out once to bring boxes and buy a few things, went out for dinner with my lovely friend Marwa then took the bus to her home where we would spend the rest of the evening till her husband Sherif, Ali's friend, and Ali come. So far, besides being very tired, the panic was already controlling me all day, panic over not finishing things on time, panic over forgetting something, and of course the overall panic of the new life ahead of me, but that wasn't enough.. Just as we took off the bus at the stop near Marwa's house I discovered that I don't have my mobile! I knew I lost it on the bus! I stood there for a few minutes stunned not knowing what to do and all I could think of was "God, this could not happen now", while Marwa was trying to call the numbers on the bus stop stand for help. A few minutes later, Ali told me over Marwa's phone to try ringing my phone and see. I called once, no answer. Marwa called again, someone answered. To make a long story short, it was the bus driver who found the phone and he told us to wait for him at the same stop as he was on his route back. So there we were, two girls waiting at 11:30 pm at the bus stop for a lost phone, with one of them very very tired, cold and stressed out. But I got my mobile back. Phew....

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 21

2006-04-20T18:29:00.000+01:00

Wohooooooooo.. got my honeymoon visa and tickets today :)

The only relaxing time I had between coming and going and shopping and hopping on trains since morning till now was an hour and 15 minutes of a deep cleansing facial and a message... mmmmm.. wish I could have that everyday. Ok, maybe just the message :)

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 22

2006-04-19T21:02:00.000+01:00

Today I was thinking what would have happened to this wedding party if there was no internet?! Actually, what would have happened to my communication with Ali if there was no internet?!! In fact, what would have happened to my life if there was no internet?!!! Indeed, what would have happened to the world if there was no internet?!!!!

Ok, maybe I'm a little delirious with excitement :)) Oh, and I came back from the gym an hour ago and I don't really have any feeling in my legs :)

Hmmm... I have exactly one week till I fly home. God, I have a lot to do. But I sent my second abstract today, fingers crossed I'll get some good news on my honeymoon (that is, if I remember to check my emails ;-) )

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 23 cont.

2006-04-18T23:17:00.000+01:00

Song of the day:

When I fall in love,
It will be forever
Or I'll never fall in love.
In a restless world like this is,
Love is ended before it's begun
And too many moonlight kisses
Seem to cool in the warmth of the sun.

When I give my heart,
It will be completely
Or I'll never give my heart.
And the moment I can feel that
You feel that way, too,
Is when I fall in love with you.

Nat King Cole "When I fall in Love"

Mai (the bride)

Mission Marriage: Day 23

2006-04-18T02:00:00.000+01:00

Hello.. yes did some more shopping today, I mean Monday of course, but not just for clothes. Today we also bought a few things for the house, including a phone and waste bins, etc. The most important of them all, though, is an ironing table. I don't know if you can detect an ironic tone here, but believe me there is huge irony involved :) It's just a tiny little fact that I don't know how to iron in the first place :) Well.. I guess "learn to iron Ali's shirts" will be on top of my "post-marriage to do" list along with "learn to cook different things 7 days a week" and "learn to change the duvet covet in less than half an hour" :) Ok, I know what you're thinking.. "poor Ali" :)

Ok, so I gave you irony and a little bit of humour.. I'm actually in a good mood now. Remeber we agreed that being moody these days is both understandable and undebatable :) Anyway, I'm enjoying right now the great Louis and Ella singing "Cheek to Cheek" and guess who I'm thinking of? :) I think we should have this song in the party..

Mai (the bride)